00:00...ow the team a big debt, but equally they owe him a big debt because all the investment
00:11that they've done, it gets paid back when he wins, when he delivers that victory.
00:15And so the two things feed each other.
00:17Exactly, exactly.
00:19And definitely they won't stop here.
00:21They're going to go on because what they're showing, like the strength they showed as
00:26a team was quite something, quite remarkable, and I think they won't stop.
00:32They're going to go on and they're going to try snatching more victories already from
00:38the first stage in Italy.
00:40Here we have the ceremony for the winner of today's stage, Maz Pedersen, as he had to
00:46the podium.
00:48Well, it's a 52nd career win for Maz Pedersen, who is still in his 20s, 29 years of age, so
00:54plenty of good years ahead of him.
00:59An eighth Grand Tour stage win.
01:03Successful rider.
01:07Extremely successful rider.
01:09Scheduled to race the Vuelta.
01:11He's going to skip the Tour de France this year, unless he has a change of heart.
01:15But you would imagine if he goes to the Vuelta, that would be a happy hunting ground for a
01:20rider like Maz Pedersen.
01:21Yeah, let's not forget in Little Trek, they had the likes of another amazing sprinter, such
01:28as Jonathan Milan.
01:30And I think the presence of two sprinters of this, you know, power and ability is pushing
01:37one each other.
01:37You know, I think there's so much too big ego and whether the other one is winning is pushing
01:43the sprinter watching at home to do better and be better.
01:47So far this year, Maz Pedersen has won the general classification at one stage of the Tour de la
01:54Provence.
01:55He's won a stage of Paris-Nice and the points jersey.
01:58He's won Ghent Vevelgem and now he has won two stages at the Giro d'Italia, as well as
02:03finishing third in Paris-Roubaix and second in the Tour of Flanders.
02:06That collection of results, for most riders on planet Earth, would be the makings of an
02:14entire career, frankly.
02:17And he's done it all in a few months in 2025.
02:19Yeah, it's really like, I guess he's finding like his balance, you know, from to be sprinter
02:29or all-rounder and is actually pretty successful at both at the moment and definitely found
02:35the key to have this kind of performance.
02:37And it was a stellar beginning of the year for Maz Pedersen.
02:42I don't think he's stopping here.
02:44He's going to go on, definitely.
02:46Well, we know for a fact that he's definitely going to go on in terms of his duties on the
02:49podium because he's back again this time to pull on another Malia Rosa.
03:00What do you think Primoz Roglic would be pretty, pretty happy?
03:04Well, not happy.
03:04Happy is not the right word, but he'd be very comfortable with Maz Pedersen taking over
03:09for now, wouldn't he?
03:09Can see the positives in that.
03:11Yeah.
03:12We often mention like how hard is the job of the leader of the GC because a lot of
03:19duty with the media and every day it takes some time away from recovering.
03:25And when you have the eyes of the big prizes in Rome to wearing the pink jersey in Rome,
03:31everything matters.
03:32So even a few minutes extra each day of rest, it's something important, especially for Roglic
03:38and all the GC contenders.
03:40Well, we have a rest day travel day tomorrow.
03:44Racing resumes on Tuesday.
03:46And by my reckoning, stage four on Tuesday, stage five to Matera on Wednesday and the Napoli
03:52stage on stage six on Thursday are all stages that Maz Pedersen could win.
03:57Yeah, I think we could fairly say we can, we can, we're going to see him until the stage
04:02of Tagliacozzo, which comes only Friday, this, this next Friday, I think it's fair to say
04:08he's going to retain this jersey because he has three stages where we can actually snatch
04:13another victories.
04:13And here we go, popping some sparkling wine over the crowd.
04:24Maybe not, they're too far.
04:25They're a little bit too far, even for Maz Pedersen to reach.
04:28So he takes his underpants and his, and his wolf, wolfie away.
04:32New sponsor this year for the Malia Rosa, an underwear company.
04:41Apparently those underpants are indestructible, according to the advertising.
04:46I wonder how can you destroy some underwear?
04:48Well, let's not, let's not speculate.
04:51Let's not speculate on that.
04:53But he'll be really pleased to be back in the Malia Rosa.
04:56He fought so hard yesterday.
04:58He was right in the balance, wasn't it, in that time trial.
05:00One second separating the defense of the jersey and handing it over to Roglic.
05:05He didn't hang around, didn't take him 24 hours before he got it back.
05:08And as we've said at the beginning of the stage and at the finish line,
05:13that was not straightforward for Lidl Trek.
05:15They had a lot of different things to deal with there
05:18and a lot of possible permutations that would have upset their tactics.
05:22And they just rode through it serenely.
05:25They've had a perfect race so far.
05:27Yeah, those first three days for them were amazing.
05:31And the proof are how many Lidl Trek you can see now on the presentation.
05:35They are winner of the day, Malia Rosa, Malia Ciclamino for the point jersey
05:40and white jersey with Vacek.
05:42So three out of four jerseys on their shoulders.
05:45Yeah, he's got a really big lead now in Malia Ciclamino.
05:50And if he does produce the kind of rides that we think he might
05:55on stage four to Lecce, stage five to Matera and stage six to Napoli,
06:00then the jersey could almost be out of sight
06:04by a third of the way through the Giro d'Italia.
06:07It might be a done deal by then.
06:09Because there are a lot of points available.
06:11Stage four is a one-star point.
06:13That means there's 50 points available at the finish line.
06:16And then there's 35 points available for the winner of stage five and stage six.
06:22He could be out of sight in the Malia Ciclamino.
06:24Yeah, at the moment, the only threat for him is Aular,
06:30which was the only guy who actually scored some quite good results
06:33in both the sprints we had so far in those first three stages.
06:37But he scored some points also in time trial.
06:40So for that, it's like a huge gap from him in the second.
06:46It wouldn't take much, though, for a rider like Caden Groves.
06:48If he hits the form that we know he's capable of to close that gap,
06:51but he's going to have to win.
06:54And then we would have a battle potentially in our hands for the Malia Ciclamino.
06:57But at the moment, it looks fairly straightforwardly like
07:00this is the rider, all other things being equal,
07:03who will be wearing this jersey in Rome.
07:07Still a long, long way to go.
07:08We haven't yet left Albanian shores.
07:11But Aular, as you say, is back 30 points back as well.
07:16And the nearest sprinter is Corbin Strong on 18 points.
07:21Unless we count Aular as a sprinter, which we probably should,
07:24given that he's finished twice now in third place.
07:34Change of ownership of the King of the Mountains jersey, though, coming up.
07:38And he fought really hard for this as well.
07:40The winner of the Zoncalan stage in the blue of Eolo Cometa,
07:43coming back to the Giro d'Italia,
07:44this time in the light blue of XDS Astana.
07:46He attacked it precisely the right moment and
07:52delivered precisely the right result.
07:56A very smart bit of racing from Lorenzo Fortunato.
07:59Previous winner of the mighty Monte Zoncalan.
08:06Some years ago, still a very young guy.
08:09He's won a winner of a stage in Tour of Romandie this year.
08:12And now, probably on a duty, as it seems like,
08:14in those first two stages for the KUM jersey.
08:19Remind me, Jacopo, you don't get UCI points
08:25for winning a mountains classification, do you?
08:28I think you do.
08:29At a grand tour, maybe?
08:30Yeah.
08:30Very few, but you do.
08:31It's relatively small, isn't it, compared to a stage result.
08:34Yeah.
08:35So, Astana, XDS Astana taking over the King of the Mountains competition
08:47with Fortunato, who signaled his intention now
08:49to concentrate, I think, on this jersey.
08:51Obviously, if by doing this, he finds himself in the position
08:55where he can ride from a breakaway to victory,
08:58that's what he'll focus on.
08:59But I think the general classification is less of a concern now
09:03for XDS Astana, and they've got a real iron in the fire here.
09:07Peo Bilbao opened his account today.
09:09Watch out for him.
09:10He's at 12 points, but Lorenzo Fortunato takes over
09:13from Silvan Monique, who fell away quite emphatically today.
09:20Tonnelli is still scrapping away in fourth place
09:22in the King of the Mountains competition.
09:24As Lidl-Trek present their wares on the podium
09:33with the final jersey that we're going to be looking at,
09:35it's Matthijs Vacek.
09:44It was a big player for Lidl-Trek,
09:46and he wants to get something significant out of this race.
09:51What that is remains to be seen,
09:54but he could very easily construct a case
09:58that Matthijs Vacek will leave the Giro d'Italia
10:00with a stage win somewhere along the line.
10:04I'd be surprised if he didn't.
10:07The white jersey might be beyond him.
10:10There are a lot of purer climbers,
10:12the likes of Tiberi and Pellizzari,
10:15who are qualified in the white jersey classification,
10:19who can probably climb in the higher mountains
10:21a little bit better than Vacek.
10:24But he might be in this jersey for a long time yet,
10:26a bit like Maz Pedersen in the Maglia Rosa.
10:30Yeah, he's so far had a couple of days
10:32with really strong performances.
10:35Even yesterday in the time, Charlie was very good.
10:37And let's not forget,
10:39he's also third in the classification in the GC.
10:42So when things can get a little bit harder,
10:45he might be staying contentional to wear,
10:47even if for some days the pink jersey.
11:07So again, we have the clash of the supermarkets on his jersey.
11:18And I don't think anything has changed
11:20in particular in the white jersey standings
11:22unless I've missed something.
11:23Let's have a look at them.
11:27Vacek leads to Ayuso at 11 seconds,
11:31Isaac Del Toro at 12, Max Poole at 19.
11:33So a few riders have appeared in the top 10,
11:37including Engelhardt, Frigo and Pindarello.
11:41No change then in the white jersey.
11:42There was a change in the King of the Mountains classification.
11:45XDS Astana have taken over.
11:48And they've done so with one of their best climbers,
11:52a former stage winner of the Giro, Lorenzo Fortunato.
11:55I wonder what his intentions are for the rest of the Giro.
11:58Let's find out.
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